Of the books, Women of Karantina is in English translation by Robin Moger, and Omar Robert Hamilton’s The City Always Wins was originally written in English.

Winning authors receive a 10,000 euro prize.

The jury is set to meet this fall, led by judging chair Pierre Leroy, with a winner announced at the end of October.

Previous editions of the award have gone to Jabbour Douaihy (2013), Mohamed al-Fakharany (2014), Mohammed Hasan Alwan (2015), Inaam Kachachi (2016), and Sinan Antoon (2017) for his novel The Pomegranate Alone, which was translated into English as The Corpse Washer.